Seeking to more clearly explain Seventh-day Adventist church policy on labor unions, as well as answer questions from members and the public, South Pacific regional leaders of the church have voted a new official statement on the subject.

The statement was developed to “update the wording and the presentation of our position on trade unions from the existing statement, which was voted back in 1987,” says Ray Coombe, the church’s public affairs and religious liberty director in the South Pacific.

He adds, “We’ve had increasing calls from various church entities on the church’s attitude and relations to trade unions. This has come about because of impending and past litigation cases. We felt a need to express a little more clearly and succinctly the church’s attitude.”

The document is divided into three sections, giving theological and historical backgrounds before the position statement.

“The previous statement, available in little leaflet form, was in prose language,” says Coombe. “It didn’t have points that were easily recognizable and it was a little too long. It was written as guidance to church members rather than a statement that could be given to trade union people or others.”

The new statement is available in full at http://www.adventist.org.au 
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The theological background recognizes the work of God in creation and salvation as an important base for the philosophy for human societies. It emphasizes the freedom of conscience to choose religious beliefs and to exercise those beliefs.

The historical background recognizes the attitude of the church toward unions that had their beginnings in rural, pre-industrial, mid-19th-century United States. Recognition is also given to Ellen White’s comments against organizations or individuals that devalue the principle of liberty. White was one of the founders of the Adventist Church.

Today, the operation of unions varies, and in many countries they are a natural part of the negotiating process. And “some unions,” says the document, “cater solely for the professional development of workers within the trade, while in other places, controlling and antidemocratic tendencies are very strong.”

The statement of position also notes the positive contribution unions have made, and the fact that many enjoy benefits brought by the union movement without having participated in the process.

“We have been more direct in acknowledging the positive function and role that trade unions have in negotiations these days, in the setting of [raises] and things like that,” says Coombe.

He says that the church has, over the past 10 years, been more directly involved with award negotiations with trade unions. “That has led us to recognize the importance of acknowledging their positive role.”

Also recognized is the right of members to choose whether or not to join a trade union. “While this has not been spelt out as clearly in the past, we have always recognized the right for members to choose,” says Coombe.

On the surface, he understands that this support for unions may seem to go against the historic position that the church has maintained, and against White’s counsel.

“If you read the statement carefully, it hasn’t happened,” Coombe adds. “We’ve explained the situation theologically and historically. We’ve supported the church’s position on trade unions and reaffirmed it. ... We’ve also said what Ellen White has written has to be taken in a historical context in that the operations of trade unions is different to what they were in the 19th century.”